A cut to the bone in Carbondale

As the year comes to a close, I find the Carbondale Council on Arts and Humanities in a bittersweet position. We have had an amazing year of community involvement, arts education, great progress in outreach to our Latino community, Carbondale’s win of the 2012 Governor’s Arts Award, a growing gallery and wonderful collaborations. Unfortunately, like any business, when you don’t make the bottom line, action must be taken.

At the council, we depend on memberships, grants, earned income and donations to be able to do what we do. For the first time in my work with this organization, we will not meet our budget. Due to this reality, the council board made the painful decision to cut our education and programming position held by Ro Mead. Ro has been a huge part of the council since 2005 and my dear friend and colleague. Ro helped start First Fridays and was instrumental in the growth of the Carbondale Public Arts Commission. She was also instrumental in the council moving to the Third Street Center.

One of Ro’s big dreams was to engage, in a deeper way, our Latino community, and with the help of the Valley Settlement Project, she began to fulfill her dream. Arts education at the council was expanded by Ro’s dedication. Ro is a visionary, artist, friend and strong part of our Carbondale community. She is part of our council history, and I will miss our daily talks.

So what does this mean for the council? I promise we will continue our vital programs and outreach. We are committed to Ro’s vision as it is a shared vision. We will need to depend on volunteers and our teachers, schools and organizations to make this happen, but it will happen.

I personally, and I think I speak for many in this community, want to thank Ro for all her hard work.